Car bomb in Buenaventura, Colombia

At least six people were killed earlier today after a car bomb was detonated in the Colombian city of Buenaventura.

The incident occurred close to the mayor’s office, and damaged a local attorney general office, as well as several taxis in the street. Al Jazeera reports that at least twenty people were wounded, although other news services, such as the Christian Science Monitor, said there were at least forty injured.

The head of the country’s armed forces, General Freddy Padilla, blamed the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) group for the attack, saying that “[s]urely this was the FARC.” However, nobody has yet claimed responsibility for the blast.

Colombian president Alvaro Uribe, meanwhile, offered a reward worth US$150,00 for information leading to the arrest of those responsible. He told media in Medellin that “we can’t let our guard down.”

Guillermo Mendoza, who is the country’s chief prosecutor, commented that he wouldn’t rule out the cause of the blast being either a gang fight, or an attack by drug traffickers as retaliation against his office.